Sortase-Mediated Ligation of Purely Artificial Building Blocks

• Published in: Polymers 2018-02, Vol.10 (2), p.151
• Main Authors: Dai, Xiaolin, Mate, Diana M, Glebe, Ulrich, Mirzaei Garakani, Tayebeh, Körner, Andrea, Schwaneberg, Ulrich, Böker, Alexander
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acrylamide; Buildings; Catalysis; Chemical synthesis; Electron microscopy; Ionization; Mass spectrometry; Nanoparticles; Photon correlation spectroscopy; Polyethylene glycol; Polymers; Reaction products; Silicon dioxide
• ISSN: 2073-4360; 2073-4360
• DOI: 10.3390/polym10020151

Sortase A (SrtA) from has been often used for ligating a protein with other natural or synthetic compounds in recent years. Here we show that SrtA-mediated ligation (SML) is universally applicable for the linkage of two purely artificial building blocks. Silica nanoparticles (NPs), poly(ethylene glycol) and poly( -isopropyl acrylamide) are chosen as synthetic building blocks. As a proof of concept, NP⁻polymer, NP⁻NP, and polymer⁻polymer structures are formed by SrtA catalysis. Therefore, the building blocks are equipped with the recognition sequence needed for SrtA reaction-the conserved peptide LPETG-and a pentaglycine motif. The successful formation of the reaction products is shown by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-ToF MS), and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The sortase catalyzed linkage of artificial building blocks sets the stage for the development of a new approach to link synthetic structures in cases where their synthesis by established chemical methods is complicated.